- As far as possible, the quick draft must not be about the writer himself (or herself). This is the easiest source of writing material and it is also the laziest and possibly the least interesting for the reader. I spend my life in my own head analysing what I’m saying and what I’m thinking so this is a frame of reference that is going to have unique meaning only to me. Also writing this here doesn’t count. Because I said so. I know, I’m writing this deliberately quickly.
- Minimal rewrites. This is about making the text flow. Making it fairly cogent, fairly quickly, not creating masterpieces. There will be years in future to perfect writing well. And faster is always better because I can rewrite tomorrow or whenever.
- Write fast. Seriously. Write, and don’t look back. Because then you might not finish. If you want to learn something, then maybe adopt this approach. It might not work though, I haven’t thought this through.
- No overuse of the phrase “this is about”. Bad use of language. It happened up there, but IT STAYS, WE KEEP WRITING. Why does “This is about” suck? Because it is a vague phrase. It is used to often fill in a gap where something more specific and concrete should be. “This is about making the text flow” should be replaced with “The quick draft should be created in an uninterrupted, continuous process, without break”. It makes point 2 and 3 start to merge into one another a bit, but now we have learned. Maybe we would have learned anyway if we’d reread. We’ll never know.
- Keep it short. Don’t bore self. Don’t bore readers. Don’t stop movin’, everybody groovin’
- These rules are subject to amendment. Cos this is a FAST AND CRAZY PROCESS. I hope you folks enjoy this. I know I have so far. And if you don’t, you can just skip this pointless verbiage. Hooray for freedom. Onwards!
Rules for new quick drafts (quick draft)
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